A drive axle of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,299. It consists there of two half-axles made as a tube and inserted in a central tube, with the central tube bearing a ring gear and being supported in a differential case firmly connected to the vehicle or to a central beam. An input shaft meshing with the ring gear is supported in the differential case. The tube contains two balance gears of a differential, the half-axles are made as output pinion gears at their proximal (=central) ends and are clamped together by a threaded pin for their axial fixing. The effect of this threaded pin at different speeds of the two half-axles creates doubt in the performability of this design. The central support in the differential case impairs the driving properties and generates substantial transverse forces between the central tube and the half-axles which a bearing of the half-axles in the central tube would have to absorb, how is not set forth.
If light vehicles of this type are intended to satisfy higher demands, they require an apparatus for travel in difficult terrain which connects the two half axles to one another in a rotationally fixed manner and, due to its low directional stability, a partial differential lock dependent on torque difference for fast road travel.